Burning the Evidence

NO NO NO! Why was THIS ONE cute too!? Hex Witch Mia was not equipped to deal with such! She stood in a kitchen, awkwardly waiting for cookies to get done and blushing up a storm. Book Thief Masaru had turned out to be just as nice as Demon Sorceror Hideki, the lady in the lake leading her to his rather pretty castle. There she had met the little Book-Thief in Training and well the little one was now hanging off her arm and looking at her adoringly.

A dog sat nearby, fluffy and white with a cute little winged backpack on her back. She was staring at the oven with an intensity that scared her. Book Thief Masaru, in the thiefly accouterments of his title, rubbed the back of his neck nearby and looked away. "I'm sorry about the lack of refreshments. We kind of don't get many visitors. Fluffy Dog comes by sometimes but... only when she smells cookies baking."

Mia didn't say a thing, merely looked down. She was holding the second piece in the jar in the bag on her back that Book Thief Masa had given her. They just needed to wait for cookies to get done, Mia unable to turn down the little one's request.

This...quest was... ridiculous! What the hell kind of person could kill such nice people!? They just gave her the pieces! At least only one more. He was a Knight, he'd be rugged right? With a ding the cookies were done and Mia flushed more as the Thief smiled at her and went to take them. She...needed to leave... but...the cookies smelled so good... just one and she'd go. Maybe she'd take some back to the Demon Sorceror? His place was right on the way..."

Mia was flushing once more, staring at her kick ass boots and trying not to show her...embarrassment. Just...this stupid Kindly Knight was off to the wand store here in the Kindly City and buying her the newest model. She adjusted the backpack Book Thief Masa had given her (along with the nickname to call him), fidgeted with her hair clips that Demon Sorc Hideki had gifted her as she had brought him back cookies... And now was getting a new wand on top of the last heart piece.

She sat on Kindly Knight Shinya's couch, in the Kindly Castle where he worked as guardian to a grand queen. ...How had it ended up this way? She had just mentioned the wands to the young looking cute as hell Knight and he had RUN OFF to get it for her. Why!? What had she done to deserve all of thiiiis!?

The pieces, all in one place, hummed a tinkling chime as a tall woman walked in. She looked confused to see Mia there for a second before hmming, her teal hair washing over her in waves of ringlets and waves. "Aah you are the other one? I see. Well whatever. Its a dream, I wish him good luck... Are those... AH! I see what he likes are breaaasts. Makes sense. Well I'm off!"

Walking to the fountain bubbled in the room, she stripped and jumped in and disappeared. The image of the cloaked woman waved her arms and grumbled across the room. "Hurry it up you have all the pieces! Though you shoulda killed them all and been done with it! Much easier! God why did I trust a wimp like you..."

Mia ignored her as Kindly Knight Shinya burst in, his red eyes shining as he held out a box for her to take. Blushing more, she accepted it and tried to thank him but... it was so hard!

There it was, the alter of the Goddess. Long ago an evil awful sorcerer had sealed her away, leaving her heart in key pieces. Mia lifted her brand new wand up and summon forth familiars to carry the jars with the pieces to the alter. The cloaked woman smiled and nodded. "Yes! Almost there..."

Part of the way there the glass shattered and the pieces floating free with an ominous light. Uh oh... As they floated to the alter, the three men she had met along the way burst into the room. Hideki yelled and pointed. "NOOO! SHE'LL BE FREED WHY!?"

"Why didn't anyone WARN ME!? Why didn't you just tell me what was up!?" Mia just looked confused between them all as Shinya shivered and Hideki pulled his hair lightly. It was Masaru who answered her in the most terrified voice she had ever heard. "We...just...pretty..."

Mia turned beat red and looked at the alter as all three looked at each other and nodded. THE HELL GUYS?! As she stared the pieces flew together and the cloaked woman joined them, their merger forming a bright red burst of light in the shape of a heart. A small woman stood in its place, long curling red hair and a rather...odd leather outfit. Was that a whip, why did she have white bunny ears?! The GODDESS laughed and stroked the whip happily while the men shook behind HEX WITCH MIA. She knew what she had to. She must protect their pure hearts and souls!

Pointing her wand, the battle started. Demon Sorceror Hideki was the first to recover from her appearance followed by Kindly Knight Shinya and Book Thief Masaru finally stopping his quivering once it was shown his help was absolutely needed.

All seemed lost as the Goddess powered up her final Heart Destroy attack, bunnies and hearts flowing into the vortex. The Hex Witch and the Book Thief couldn't move, paralyzed by the NUDIE MAGS attack from earlier. All hope was lost until... Demon Sorceror Hideki and Kindly Knight Shinya threw themselves in front of her! The power of FRIENDLY LOVE reflected the blast right back at the Evil Goddess!

"At least...I got to use... a Whip...shiro-usa...I'm coming..." She held her hand up to the sky as the moon shown down, a face appearing that held out its hand in return as the Goddess turned to sparkles and floated away.

"I will remember your sacrifices!" Mia sobbed over the two fading bodies of Kindly Knight Shinya and Demon Sorceror Hideki, both of them smiling sadly up at her as she held their hands. Why had they done that!? Thrown themselves in front of her to destroy the EVIL RED HEAD GODDESS, but why!? Book Thief Masa's hand was warm on her shoulder and she stood up, determination in her eyes as she took that hand. She would live for them! For their sakes and their loss! One last farewell as their bodies finally faded, Hex Witch Mia headed off into the moonset with Book Thief Masa at her side and Book Thief in training throwing miniature dwarves like flower petals behind them. Two faces looked down on them from inside the moon, smiling as the Goddess spoke quietly. "See? I called it."

Mia woke up and looked around, started and drowsy. What...the....that dream... was already fading out?

Hideki had stayed strong. He really had. He had kept sitting up and stroking her hair for ten minutes... then twenty... then thirty... It was just... so boring.. He couldn't even get Librom or a video game out of his clothes without disturbing her. So he kept a dutiful watch... Until.. he slowly... drifted off to sleep.

He had easily sunk backwards on the bench over time until he was laying down, cradling the lieutenant atop him, hands tangled in her hair.

When she woke up and looked around drowsy, it stirred him slightly, making a garbled noise in his sleep, mouth hanging open, a thin trail of drool trailing out.

Mia shook her head lightly as she lifted up a bit more, shaking loose Hideki's hand as she rubbed her eyes. She was... on top of captain and they both had passed out! Turning red, she threw herself off and fell off the bench in a tumble of hair and clothes. Groaning in slight pain as she rubbed her back, she realized she was falling asleep on men a lot lately...

Moving to a sitting position, she peeked up over the edge of the bench and stared at the sleeping Captain. Poking his side, she whispered as held onto the bench edge. "Hideki...Hiiideeekiii. We fell asleeep."

Hideki was sleeping like a rock until she poked him. He immediately sat up laughing. No. giggling. Giggling like a girl, before gasping from the shock of being awoken so quickly. He froze and tipped over, falling off the bench like that in the opposite direction.

He just laid there on the ground for a while, groaning himself. "Wh..Wh...Mia? I... I had a dream that I was cuddling a Luck Dragon... It was the softest anything." He muttered before realizing what had occurred and sat up. "BWAH! I-I'm so sorry! Sorry!" He apologized profusely, blushing.

Mia had moved up as Hideki flopped over the edge of the bench like she had, his groans making her hop up and over the bench. She moved to his side as he sat up, just as red as she was which...honestly made her smile. The shinigami just smiled and poked Hideki's cheek though. "I...am glad I am soft? Don't apologize Captain."

Looking over at the box that sat there unburned, she decided that it would be a good bonding experience! And get rid of the embarrassment! "W-We should go get rid of those before someone else sees them. O-Or Aoi comes back."

Hideki looked up at the smiling lieutenant and felt some of his embarrassment fading. Silly perfect best lieutenant. "I'm not apologizing for how soft you are, Best Lieutenant." He abridged her nickname for her. He got up and glanced at the magazines. Yes... the little Aoi tyrant would be clearly a danger... He should probably hunt down his old notes from her class and burn them too... later though.

"Hey... Mia.." He picked up a magazine and tossed it onto the fire. "I think... I want to be your best friend... If you'll let me." He sighed, lowering his head a little. Well this was nerve wracking even given the circumstances. "Buuut I think I should say first... I just don't want to worry about you finding this out some day... I... may have had kind of a big ol' crush on you... uh... Basically up till today." He laughed, giving her a nervous glance, still worried how she'd react.

"Oh. Well then its fine!" Mia nodded and stood up with Hideki, straightening her kimono and dusting off dirt or anything on it. It was a sturdy one so she had no issues with most stains... Heading to the box, she watched Hideki toss a whole magazine on the fire that had simmered down to low flames and stoked it with her power. The flames turned purple as she did so, the magazine burning steadily as she tossed some in herself. At his words she turned to look at Hideki. About to speak, she stopped as he continued. Let him speak his peace and then... what.

what

what

WHAT?! Flushing a bright red, she stared at her Captain in shock. Two...two of her...crushes... had...returned her feelings and she had had no idea?! Realizing she had no answer but the truth, she stuttered out her reply as he stared at her nervously. "...I did too! I-I mean...on you... Y-You and Masa...both... It...you both... are amazing... I want to be...your best friend too..."

Thats why he had seemed so odd. She...had admitted having another relationship while he still... Oh Hideki. She reached up and tugged on her hair, lower lip wobbling a bit as she held in sniffly tears. Oh she had hurt Captain...

Hideki made a little tiny "Bwuh." noise when the purple flames shot up out of the fire. He took a step back before regaining his calm. Jeez. So Mia had fire powers, good to know. He slowly backed away, picking up another magazine to toss in. He looked at her red face and sighed. Well, so much for best friends... But what she said next surprised him too.

She'd had a crush on him as well? He... was filled with a lot of feelings suddenly... Not all of them great ones... That was... what.. what kind of shitty fucking timing was THAT? He... They could have... He picked up another magazine and stared at it hard, obviously not taking in what he was seeing literally at all by the lack of blush on his face. But.... But...

But it didn't really change anything. After all, she felt the way she did about Masa and he felt the way he did about Yuzuki. Maybe nothing would come of that, but... Maybe it would. Maybe Masa and Mia were perfect together in ways Hideki and her couldn't have been... He had no idea, honestly but.. That was sort of the point he was making to himself. What happened has happened. Finding out about it doesn't change things.

He tossed the magazine into the fire and smiled, turning to walk over to Mia. He reached up, taking her hands and unfolding them from around her hair, before lowering them, holding them lightly without clasping them. "Mia. It's okay." He smiled. "I'm honestly happy for you. And nothing could hurt me WORSE then seeing my favorite lieutenant on the planet beating herself up... okay?" His smile turned into a closed eyed, wider one with a little chuckle.

Hideki was so quiet and staring at the Magazine... What was wrong? Had her words...really hurt him more?

Mia looked down, about ready to leave Hideki alone when he moved towards her. His hands freed hers and she stared in confusion as the younger looking captain spoke. She had to smile sweetly as he reassured her, so well that she felt immediately better. That smile was so cute, she wanted to reach up and pat his cheeks. "I can't...feel bad when you smile like that Captain. Thank you... so much..."

"Well then I should smile like this all the time, right?" If anything his smile broadened as he let go of her hands. "I think everything happens for a reason, Mia. I don't know anything about a God or Soul King or anything like that, but I do believe there's reason to things that happen. How can I be upset? You found someone, I...." He sighed, "am most likely hopelessly pursuing someone, but she's fantastic nonetheless... and besides, now we have a best friend." He said, reaching out to give her cheek a playful little pinch. "Our fellow Squad 7 officer."

"You should! She won't be able to resist it." Mia gave a strong nod, fighting down laughter. Hideki was right, it...was working out in its own way and honestly she couldn't say she was unhappy with how things were turning out. Masa...was wonderful. Her face blushed slightly and she looked away for a moment as she nodded again, she really... hoped this woman would make Hideki happy. She didn't want to see him upset or sad over this, so she hoped and hoped that maybe this woman felt the same.

Laughing, she had to smile widely and lift a hand to her cheek, puffing it out. Her other hand went to his hair, giving it a soft tug. "No piiinching! Or else...revenge!"

He gave a small playful "Ahh!" batting at her hand. "I relent, I relent!" He scrambled out of her tug, fixing his hair and laughing.

"Well.. We'll see how she does on the resisting front... I mean..." He hesitated, about to go on before giving a wave. "Y'know, worrying never helped anybody. Things happen or they don't lieutenant. If you can influence things you can and if you can't you can't. If you can't influence something, then there's no point in giving it any concern." He said with a content shrug.

Mia had to smile more as Hideki laughed, his hopping away adorable as her hand fell. It fell a bit as he spoke and seemed...okay with this whole situation. It was good to hear him being so calm, and seeing him be so calm. She gave him a determined look and smile, nodding. "Yes! You are right. We won't worry, we'll burn these magazines and enjoy it."

She felt...better oddly enough even though Hideki had been the one needing soothing. His optimism and carefree nature rubbing off on her, calming her nerves like being around Masa did when awkward things didn't happen. She grinned and tossed a few more magazines into the burning pile. Tearing them up before had been a more anger reducing activity than any real need to.

He grinned happily, raising a hand in the air and bringing it down in a little fist pump. "RIGHT!" He said, reaching over to the box. He picked up a stack and tossed a few off the top, watching the sordid images fade away. He smiled at the fire before glancing over at Mia, reaching up to pat her on the head. "Like I said. Best Lieutenant."

Mia smiled but also tried to frown and look stern, her leg instinctively going out to kick Hideki's shin lightly. "Silly Captain."